1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner and, more particularly, to an air conditioner is provided with an air deflecting device for concentrating conditioned air to a predetermined region in the breadthwise or horizontal direction of the air outlet so as to enhance the velocity of air discharged from the air conditioner.
2. Description of the Related Art
In for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 62-276359, an air conditioner is proposed which includes air deflecting device for selectively deflecting an air flow in the vertical and horizontal directions, and in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 62-2944 an air conditioner is proposed having an air deflecting device including a main deflector plate disposed below the outlet of the air conditioner and an auxiliary deflector plate disposed above the main deflector plate. These deflector plates are capable of deflecting the air in the vertical direction and are provided over the entire breadth, i.e., the horizontal length, of the air outlet so that the air is distributed in the horizontal direction.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 60-169025 discloses air deflection vanes for vertically deflecting driven by a rotational position control device including a member made of a shape memory alloy with the deflection vanes extending over the entire breadth of the air outlet.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 57-73331 discloses an air conditioner having two air outlets so that conditioned air is discharged upwardly to the outside of a living space when a heat source is switched on, whereas, when the heat source is switched off, the conditioned air is discharged into the living space. With the air deflector plates at both air outlets being inclined at the same inclination angle.
Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. 58-4256 discloses an automotive air conditioner having a central air outlet portion composed of a pair of outlets, one for the driver and the other for a passenger, with the outlets being independently manually adjustable to deflect conditioned air vertically and horizontally; however, no means are provided for concentrating air to the central regions of both air outlets by blocking outer regions of the outlets.
In the above described conventional constructions, the air damper plates or deflecting plates are arranged over an entire breadth of the air outlet and the damper and deflector plates are rotated or inclined so as to deflect the conditioned air in the vertical direction or to direct the air in one direction, but the air is uniformly distributed over the entire breadth of the air outlet so that a uniform flow of discharged air is formed along the outlet of the air conditioner.
Thus, none of the conventional constructions proposed locally blocking the flow of the discharged air to concentrate the air flow to the central, left or right region of the air outlet so as to enable the conditioned air to reach a desired zone where the conditioned air is specifically demanded by the user, e.g., a zone in a room where many persons may be gathered.
Recently, inverter-driven air conditioners have become popular with this type of air conditioner being capable of producing a large heating output to cope with a demand for heating in winter. In general, an inverter-driven air conditioner is so designed that, when a steady condition is attained at a set room air temperature, the operation is changed to a low-output mode so as to minimize frequency of cycling of the power, thus attaining economy. Under such a steady condition, in an air conditioned room a considerably low air temperature tends to be developed in the region near the floor as compared with the air at a head level, even when measures are taken to reduce such a temperature difference.
In general, when air conditioning a room from physical and physiological points of view, the air temperature around a floor area of a room should preferably be higher to some extent than the temperature of air at a head level.
Under these circumstances, there is an increasing demand for an air conditioner which can direct and concentrate conditioned air, for example, heated air, locally to a desired zone in a room, such as, for example, the floor of the room.